Finnish retrobates Grave Pleasures have been playing around with their mental-infused version of postpunk for over a decade. They produced two previous albums that recalled the spirit of Joy division and music that soundtracked the desolate wasteland of the early 80s. They were good albums, but the feeling was always the best was yet to come. Well, the yet has become the now, “Plague Boys” is probably the best album Joy division never made. A lost Goth classic that has been unearthed as opposed to made.

It is so good because it remembers what bands like Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and early Cure did so well and that was to write era-defining catchy songs. It doesn’t try to be clever or even particularly reverential, it just provides nine exquisite packages of haunting melodies. Goth and post-punk was never about being difficult or challenging, if anything it embraced commerciality and was more than happy to find its dancing shoes. 

Every track on here is a Bonafide dancefloor filler. It is a whole night of 80s indie disco concentrated into a single 43-minute album. It is chocker full of anthems that are not just danceable but also nuclear-powered earworms. Just absolutely astonishing.